By Reuben Wanyama
Human rights activist Okiya Omtatah and his counterpart Nyakina Gisebe have sued President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and the treasury cabinet secretary Henry Rotich for withholding explanation on Eurobond transactions.
Omtatah and his counterpart Wycliffe filed their case at Milimani law courts today that seeks for information on funds borrowed by the government from the international markets which have not been properly accounted for as required by law.
Omtatah and Gisebe argue that those involved in the legal handling of the Eurobond saga must held to account because the law was breached and Kenyans lost money.
The two were upset that the Constitution, the administrative action Act 2015, the public finance management Act of 2012 have been violated by the respondents in dealing with the Euro bond takings which has led to the alleged loss of Ksh 197billion.
Omtatah and Gisebe squabble that by banking the money in a secret offshore account in violation of the law, the Executive placed the Eurobond finances outside the oversight and accountability organs established by the law.
Their petition read “On Monday, 1st December 2015, we filed a Constitutional Petition No. 531 of 2015 at the High Court in Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts) seeking to unravel the mystery surrounding the use of the US$ 2.75 billion (equivalent to some Ksh. 275 billion, using an exchange rate of Ksh. 100 to the US dollar) which was borrowed by the Government using a sovereign bond from international money markets in the period between June – November 2014â€.
Omtatah and Gisebe want the court to make a finding that the petition is an arguable case and the general public should be furnished with information as regards to the saga.
The activist further demanded that the case file be placed before the Chief Justice for the matter to be heard on a priority basis.
Similar sentiments were made a few hours later by Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi to the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to make public all the information on the Ksh 275 billion Eurobond cash.
Mudavadi criticized the move by Rotich to invite Cord leader Raila Odinga to have access and scrutinize the details on the cash expenditure.
He said the information is not a concern of one or two individuals but of all the Kenyan public who authorized the government to borrow the money.
“If the CS has nothing to hide he should not call one or two people in his office, but he should provide the statement to be tabulated†he said.
Director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko yesterday ordered detectives from Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) and directorate of public prosecutions to probe Rotich and Permanent Secretary Kamau Thuge and present him with the findings in 10 days.
Mudavadi said that the government ought to have banked the cash at Central Bank’s consolidated account and give statement to the public.
“The government did not bank the cash at the Central Bank that’s why they have found themselves in trouble†he said.
Mudavadi added that the CS should have invited the Auditor General to go through the files and see how the money has been spent.
“The office of Auditor General is a big office and Rotich ought to have invited them and give out the audited report to the public†he said.
Odinga on Wednesday declined the invitation by CS Rotich saying that the information should be made public because Kenyans are the ones going to pay for it.
Leave a Reply